Semiconductor Physics

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Organic electronic devices, such as polymer solar cells and transistors, show promise as cheap and flexible alternatives to conventional silicon-based electronics.

But organic devices are generally much less efficient than their inorganic counterparts. One of the main impediments to more rapid improvement and widespread adoption of organic semiconductor technologies is that device performance cannot easily be predicted from the chemical structure of the constituent molecules.

Fundamentally, this is because organic semiconductor molecules are held together by weak non-covalent forces that result in significant structural disorder, which can have a substantial impact on device properties. The goal of this project is to develop a more predictive approach to controlling organic electronic device performance, in particular by exploiting the anisotropy of organic semiconductor molecules to manipulate the structure of organic semiconductor interfaces.

This project will use statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the self- assembly of organic semiconductor interfaces and the impact of the resulting interface structure (and the roles of disorder, dipolar anisotropy, and electron delocalisation) on electronic processes such as charge separation, transport, and recombination.

Applications of this research include understanding efficient charge separation in organic solar cells and high charge-carrier mobilities in organic field-effect transistors.


David Huang

David Huang

Research area: Soft condensed matter theory

Recommended honours enrolment: Honours in Physics

Tagged in Honours projects - Physics, Honours Projects - David Huang, Honours in Physics subtheme - Other